The Lost Museum of Georgetown University

Have you heard of the Coleman Museum: the lost museum of Georgetown? The Coleman Museum existed for almost a century, then somewhat mysteriously disappeared.

In recent years, a number of campuses have been rediscovering lost museums, from Brown University's Jenks Museum to Harvard University's Philosophy Chamber. Georgetown’s lost museum remains to be recovered. What was here, and for what purposes? How did this museum begin, evolve, and end? How did the Coleman Museum fit and/or defy trends in museum history? After its closure, what happened to items in its collections?

This exhibition can be a striking object lesson around cultural collections related to the interlinked evolution of museums, universities, and disciplinary thinking. It showcases some of the fascinating material in Georgetown’s University Archives and Art Collection related to the Coleman Museum and other iterations of this now-defunct but once-impressive museum.